Las Jaras Wines 2018 'Sweet Berry Wine' Red Blend, Mendocino County
Item Number: 13782
UPC: None
Country: USA
Region: California
Sub Region: Mendocino
Appellation/AVA: Mendocino County
Estate Grown Wine: No
Vintage: 2018
Grape(s): 54% Carignan / 28% Zinfandel / 12% Charbono / 3% Cabernet Sauvignon / 3% Valdiguie
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 12.4
Total Acidity: 5.96
pH: 3.54
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Case Production: 3,860
2019 Vintage Notes: 2018 was a long, cool vintage, which resulted in a nuanced, refined wine that will age wonderfully.
Tasting Notes: The 2018 Sweet Berry Wine is perfect for long, autumn evenings with friends—grab a warm blanket, start a fire, and watch as the flames illuminate the beautiful, deep ruby wine inside your glass. As the days grow shorter and colder, you’ll find even more occasions to pop open a bottle: holiday dinners, après-ski at the lodge, New Years Eve. This wine is loaded with spice and bright, berry fruit, making it wonderfully versatile with food.
Vineyard Notes: The grapes for this blend are grown on old vines and sourced from vineyards in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. Most of the Carignan, Zinfandel and Charbono grapes come from Gary Venturi’s vineyard in Calpella, where they are dry farmed using sustainable farming techniques and grown in Yokayo sandy loam soils. Nine percent of the Carignan comes from the organic Riccetti vineyard in Redwood Valley. Fruit is also sourced from Green Valley in Solano County, Valdiguie from Quail Run Vineyard, and a bit of Carignan from Parenti Vineyard, both organically grown. The Cabernet grapes are sustainably farmed on Sonoma Mountain at Berger’s Oak Shade Ranch in Goulding on volcanic gravelly loam soils.
Winemaking Notes: All the grapes were manually harvested. Each variety went through its own separate, slightly different winemaking process in order to bring out the desired expression of the fruit. The Carignan, Zinfandel, and Cabernet were hand-sorted at the crusher. There was no sulfur added, no cold soaks, and only native fermentation in open-top fermenters. Punch downs happened frequently in the beginning and decreased over time. Some of the Carignan lots were 20% and others were 50% whole cluster, while other lots were destemmed entirely. The Cabernet and Zinfandel were each 100% destemmed. Carbonic Maceration was used for the Charbono. Whole clusters were placed in open-tanks with dry ice. The temperature was set at 65°F and 20 gallons of fermenting rosé was added to generate CO2. The tank was sealed and untouched for 10 days. The juice was then pressed and fermented in a stainless steel tank.
Aging Notes: The Carignan aged in neutral French oak, which was a combination of 600-liter demi-muids, 500- liter puncheons, and 228- liter Burgundy barrels. The Cabernet aged in a combination of new and used French 225-liter Bordeaux barrels. The Zinfandel aged in neutral 600-liter French demi-muids. The Charbono aged in neutral French 228-liter Burgundy barrels. The wine was racked and blended into four blocks in the February following harvest. One month before bottling, it was again racked and blended again. The wine was bottled without fining or filtration. Total SO2 equals 46 ppm.